The first training session for the ARES Group in SMRA was held on Thursday March 17 from 7:00 PM until 9:00 PM in the Public Safety Training Room in the EOC building in Carlisle. A total of 9 people were trained on crimping PowerPole connectors onto appropriate size wire to make a black/red polarized DC power supply cable.
The meeting began with Jack NC3O giving an introduction to the Amateur Radio Emergency Services (ARES) within SMRA and how it fits into the national organization ARRL.org. Each person was given a ARES Registration Form FSD-98(07/21) to fill our and turn in at the end of class. This would generate the attendance roster for this first class. The attendees understood they did not have to join ARES to participate in this class. Each attendee was given a copy of the ARES Standardized Training Plan Ver. 2.1.1. The training plan was briefly discussed. It was pointed out that this class on crimping PowerPoles to make a power cable assembly would qualify them in one of the Proficiency/Skill areas required in the plan book. Each attendee should bring their personal plan book with then to every training session.
The training session went well. Several samples of wire and finished PowerPole cable assemblies were passed around the room. We discussed the growing popularity of PowerPoles usage in emergency situations. Ed AB3X kindly provided the class with printed assembly instructions with nice colored photos to help us all properly align the connectors during the assembly and crimping process. Two crimping areas were set up so the class could spread out and share the cable prep tools and the crimp tools. There were a few glitches along the way but every one helped each other out and everyone ended up with a good power jumper and tested it for mate-ability with a known good RIGrunner power distribution block and by mating with other known good connectors. There are some photos provided by Ed KC3RFX attached to this email.
The next training session will be on crimping PL-259 (UHF) connectors onto coaxial cable. Stay tuned for further details.